Something Fishy

“She’s hot!” a co-worker remarks when he sees the press photo of Amber Taylor on my desk. Taylor’s image is all moody and vamped-out. Her black, lacy top exposes her midriff. Her thinly plucked eyebrows and glossy lips are subtly sexy. Strange, I think for a moment. She looks a little like my sister.

But I know better. Amber Taylor’s femmy, sexpot image is all a ruse. ‘Cuz Amber’s a man.

Taylor has worked as a freelance stagehand and a soundtech for a motley assortment of touring acts and currently works at a local lighting company. But, like her Beatlesque pop ditty “I’m in Love With a Girl (But She Used to Be a Man)” so eloquently explains, “Somewhere in-between she had a change of plan.”

Recently, Taylor decided it was time to step up to the spotlight and showcase her own musical and vocal talent. She performs her original songs along with glam-rock and country covers with her band each week at Tripps, and she appears at the glam-rock event “Transfixion” at the Metro.

“I always try to push people’s buttons,” Taylor explains in her playful, boyish voice. “Whatever it takes to get my music heard. I’ll look like a lesbian if I have to.”

This weekend, Taylor takes her gender-bending, guitar-playing ways to a larger (but ultimately more accepting) audience at the Atlanta Pride Festival. And if it confuses some people, all the better.


Amber Taylor plays the Verizon Wireless Acoustic Stage at Piedmont Park Sun., June 29, at 6:30 p.m. Free.